hello guys, the project is coming along nicely! however i noticed when it rained for a few days this week, that i have a few leaks that I have to find. the car is a '94 Cavalier coupe.
1. the driver's side carpet in the front is wet. firewall leak maybe?
2. the carpet on the driver's side behind the driver's seat is REALLY wet, and I can't see where the water is coming from. the underside of the floor (underneath the car) is fine, and the car has not been driven in a couple of weeks.. any ideas?
and also..
3. I have some water in my trunk. not so much on the driver's side rear corner of the trunk but there is water... and on the passenger side rear corner (from the rear wheel well to the back of the trunk where the tail lights are) there is a good bit of water accumulated there. the bottom of the trunk is all urethane'd, so thats why the water is stuck there. it seems like the water is coming in from above somewhere.. but i cannot feel where it would be coming in at unless its through the trunk lid itself..
yeah its a bit of a newb question... but have any of you had either of these problems, or have any idea what could cause these leaks or what i could do to fix them?
thank you all for any replies..
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/682845/ <=== my '91 Sunbird LE 2.0 4cyl
COMING SOON.. '94 Cavalier 2.2L Z-Wannabee (in progress)
The drivers floor is definatly the firewall leak, just pull of the cowl and clean it out the replace the sealant in there at teh firewall and that will fix that, #2 is really weird and I've never heard that before, and have'ent got a cluse what that could be. The trunk thing is probobly just the weather stripping, I've heard of lots of people having trunk leaks and once they replace the weather stripping it stops leaking, aslo I noticed my trunk gets a lot of moisture in it and water droples form on the unde side of the trunk lid and drip down, I was thinking of putting one of those carpet things on teh underside of the trunk like a lot of cars have, I think that might stop it.
ok cool, the cowl / firewall thing sounds easy enough. #2 is definately weird... maybe it's dripping down the rear of the door post and coming in there i dont know... the driver's door is shot but i am working on a door i picked up that needs just some a minor fill / sand/ prime job. as for the weatherstripping, is that weatherstripping just universal... or would i need weatherstripping specifically for the Cavalier? and where could i find some of this weatherstripping?
thank you very much, that was very helpful
anyone else know what could be causing #2? yeah the driver's door is separated at the bottom its f****. the water very well could be coming down the side of the car and into the back of the car.
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/682845/ <=== my '91 Sunbird LE 2.0 4cyl
COMING SOON.. '94 Cavalier 2.2L Z-Wannabee (in progress)
#2 is coming from in the trunk where the driver's side trunk leak is (above the inner fender at the bottom of the window). The water is simply running along the inner fender and down under the seat. I have the same problem and it took me forever to find out what it was. I only noticed it when I had the back seat out and it rained.
ok, so if i took the rear seat out the leak would be around the bottom of the rear window, or do you mean at the bottom of the side window in the rear? sorry for the confusion.. just a few leaks i want to get a handle on before i run into some major rust problems
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/682845/ <=== my '91 Sunbird LE 2.0 4cyl
COMING SOON.. '94 Cavalier 2.2L Z-Wannabee (in progress)
sweet Cavy James, btw.
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/682845/ <=== my '91 Sunbird LE 2.0 4cyl
COMING SOON.. '94 Cavalier 2.2L Z-Wannabee (in progress)
The leak is at the rear of the side window at the bottom. The molding that curves up around the C pillar gets loaded with crap and then it starts to rot. The water comes in there and will either pool right behind the wheelwell or (depending on how the car is parked- ie, uphill, downhill, etc) the spare tire well, or trickle down under the rear seat. The only real way to fix it is to take out the side window so you can get the molding off, and then repair the hole.
Mines been leaking for years, and the only real problem I've had with it is some surface rust where the wheel well meets the trunk floor, which I've cleaned up a few times.
dont happen to have any rust on the rear wheel wells do you? they go striaght through to the trunk.
http://www.cardomain.com/id/nocho
there are 10 types of people in the world, those who understand binary, and those who dont.
hmm.. i never took out a window before.. but I am going to ask around. i will be taking the rear seat out this weekend, and will probably take out the rear trim panels to see if I can see exactly where the problem is. if not i will have to find somoene who can do this for me.. what you are saying sounds like it's probably what the problem is.. i stuck my hand up behind the wheel well (from inside the trunk) and on the driver's side there was some rusty junk coming from where the pillar meets the rear fender on the inside. needless to say i am going to get the leak problem cleared up before i go ahead with any interior mods..
i am glad someone else had this problem. i just hope it wasnt leaking for an extended period of time before i bought it.. could be pretty bad in there but the floors (although the carpet was wet) are still solid with no holes so i'll see what i'm into.. hopefully nothing too serious.
Thanks!
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/682845/ <=== my '91 Sunbird LE 2.0 4cyl
COMING SOON.. '94 Cavalier 2.2L Z-Wannabee (in progress)
i got that same driver leak i am going outside to fix it ..... NOW!!!1
my driver front problem was the stupid windshield, some dumb@$$ put the window in and forgot to check the seal ... and if you check out my new cardomain page on the interior page you can see the result.... and now i have to pop rivet that big sheet of stove metal in from underneath.... i hate morons
also i'm having a bunch of rust issues, tap down the inside edge next to your rockers, where the wire stuff is (under the carpet), and see if what you're tapping with goes through, i have to fiberglass that part on BOTH sides all the way down!!! along will covering all four corners in fiberglass so that i don't have to worry about leaking in those spots (i'd weld, but i have no welder, so that will have to wait till i feel like tearing it all apart again, or i get a new body to work with)
ontop of all that i have a trunk leak too, but it's between the spot the wiring harness goes through the rear end, and the weather stripping, i'm calling up the pontiac dealership to see how much the new weather seal for that is, the rest of my weatherstripping is still in ace condition
"I live my life a quarter mile at a time..." "for those ten seconds or less I'm free"
yeah i am going to call the dealer about some new weatherstripping for the trunk as well. leak #1 will be easy enough to fix. as for the leaks in the back end of the car... i took out the back seat and the side mouldings, and sure as James said above.. the water was pooling under the back seat, and running down under the carpet to pool behind the driver's seat. puddles in the trunk as well.. but i can't tell where the #@!% it is coming from. i am hoping a glass shop can check the seals on the rear side windows, since i have most of the stuff in the rear stripped at the moment... save them a bit of work and possibly save me some money on their labor to tear it apart and put it back together... this way they can just go right at checking the window seals. when you start getting water in your car it definately sucks. and if it is not the window seals then hopefully a body shop would be able to have a boo at it... if i fix these things myself it's just something im gonna be worrying about.. every time it rains. so i'd rather have someone else look at it and hopefully help me out!
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/682845/ <=== my '91 Sunbird LE 2.0 4cyl
COMING SOON.. '94 Cavalier 2.2L Z-Wannabee (in progress)
okay back from the dead on this one too... That flange in the trunk... I got some bondo longhair fiberglass gell. could i just take out that flange and fiberglass it shut? If so what else would i need to do to get the glass to stick? Should i get some mesh to put in there to stiffen it up? I would like to get this done asap. A shop was going to charge me 50 to weld a peice of metal there.
~Riki
SPONSORED BY: No one!
Car Domain Site
I would say to weld something in as well, but I wouldn't charge you $50. Which actually is pretty cheap for that type of job.
that dumb@$$ was probably the guy on the GM assembly line. They were experimenting with water-bourne urethane, and pretty much all of our cars will have the glass pulling up from the paint at some point. I could move the top left corner of my windshield in and out over a 1/4 of an inch. I was just lucky mine didn't rust anywhere. I believe my rear window is also starting to weaken, and I know fore sure my quarter windows are leaking like crazy. My trunk and rear floor can attest to that nightmare. Going to go get the quarters resealed tomorrow hopefully. Water leaks SUCK.
Mysterio wrote:my driver front problem was the stupid windshield, some dumb@$$ put the window in and forgot to check the seal
the #1 leak problem, I have a similar one but once I soak the car with the hose it is dripping higher than where I can see from the inside, up under the dash. Where do I seal this thing up? I do have a cracked windshield but that cannot be it.
<img src="http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/11/web/491000-491999/491827_30_full.jpg">
its probably the cowl leak, most 2nd Gen J's are known for it.... take off the cowl cover (the strip between the hood and the windshield) and take a look down in there
My "Z-Wannabe"
http://www.cardomain.com/memberpage/682845/
my 94 sunbird was all rotted below the windshield and the cowl it really pissed me off because my 92 z24 was near mint.also check below the cowl by the wireing on both sides and around the window pillers. mine unfortunatly has alot of spray foam in it now but at least it doesnt leak much i also had a hole right behind the brake pedal. you have to cut the black rubber insullation to get to it thoughon the rear floor there may be a hole in beside the seat from rust on the inner part of the rocker hope this helps
Can anyone provide pictures to show exactly where to check?
Thanks
best way to find these types of leaks is to completely gut the interior, and buy a few fittings and some pipe from the hardware store, along with a cheap shower head. Hook up your garden hose and park the car under it so you can spot the leaks as they happen.
Arrival Blue 04 LS Sport
Eco
Turbo
Megasquirt
'Nuff said
In front of the windshield the cowl has a drain hole on either side of the car, with a rubber stopper in it that is supposed to let water out, and keep engine air out of the car I suppose. But they're also good for collecting leaves & evergreen needles etc, and rusting through eventually. Sometimes they rust through right at that edge, where the drain holes meet the firewall. I even had a small hole rusting through at the bottom middle of my windshield, which I only noticed because I had a cracked windshield replaced. There are also several holes below those drain holes that the water can run down to and into the car, such as holes for wires, clutch/brake pedal bolts, etc. The drain hole for the blower motor for the heater sometimes gets clogged up with leaves, evergreen needles, etc, and holds water there as a result, and rusts through. The rear quarter windows also are notorious for not getting enough sealant in the factory and leaking right past the gaps in the sealant, resulting in the rear floor getting wet.
How do you take of the cowl?
